Universitätsverlag Potsdam

Artikel erschienen in:

Ottmar Ette, Eberhard Knobloch (Hrsg.)

HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz, XVI (2015) 30

2015 – 101 p. ISSN (print) 2568-3543 ISSN (online) 1617-5239 URN urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-86895

Internationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt-Studien International Review for Humboldt Studies Revista internacional de estudios humboldtianos Revue internationale d’études humboldtiennes

HiN XVI 30 2015

Universität Potsdam Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften

Empfohlene Zitation: Giuseppe Buffon: The in , In: Ette, Ottmar; Knobloch, Eberhard (Hrsg.). HiN : Alexand-er von Humboldt im Netz, XVI (2015) 30, Potsdam, Universitätsverlag Potsdam, 2015, S. 13–28. DOI https://doi.org/10.18443/212

Soweit nicht anders gekennzeichnet ist dieses Werk unter einem Creative Commons Lizenzvertrag lizen- ziert: Namensnennung 4.0. Dies gilt nicht für zitierte Inhalte anderer Autoren: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.de

13

Giuseppe Buffon

The Franciscans in Cathay: memory of men and places. A Contribution for the genealogy of geographical knowledge of Alexander von Humboldt

Summary

The study analyzes the process that leads to the elabo- majus), che Humlbodt stesso stima mediatore cultura- ration of the thesis of a continuity between the Medi- le per antonomasia. La parte conclusiva della ricerca si eval Asia mission and the New World mission. This ef- occupa di stabilire modalità e ragioni della secolarizza- fort, undertaken by the Catholic historiography of the zione del concetto di missione, cioè del trasferimento mission during the XIX century, is the result of the im- all’interesse cartografico dell’anelito alla propagazione pulse provided by Alexander von Humboldt’s studies del messaggio cristiano fino agli estremi confini della about the discovery of America (Examen critique). The terra, trasformazione predisposta dalla storiografia me- data about the geography of Asia collected by the mis- dievale che nei martirologia inserisce appunto i loca to- sionaries-travelers working in the territory between ponomastici. Karakorum and Khanbalik during the XIII e XIV centu- ry reaches Christopher Colombus with the mediation Resumen of Roger Bacon, whom Humboldt himself esteems as a true cultural mediator. The conclusion of the article tries El estudio analiza el proceso que conduce a la elabora- to identify reasons and modalities of the secularization ción de la tesis sobre una posible continuidad entre la of the missionary concept, i.e. the shift from the ideal misión asiática medieval y la misión en el Nuevo Mun- of the propagation of the Christian message to a pre- do. El empeño, asumido por parte de la historiografía vailing interest for cartography and topography, trans- misionera católica a lo largo del siglo XIX, constituye el formations arranged by a late medieval historiography resultado del impulso proveniente de los estudios de- that introduces into martyrolagia the loca toponomas- sarrollados por Alexander von Humboldt en torno a la tica. exploración de las Américas (Examen critique). Las in- formaciones sobre el espacio asiático transmitidas por Sommario los misioneros que operaron durante los siglos XIII y XIV entre Karakorum y llegan a Cristobal Colón a Lo studio analizza il processo che conduce través de Roger Bacon (Opus majus), que el mismo Hum- all’elaborazione della tesi di una continuità tra mis- boldt considera como un mediador cultural por antono- sione asiatica medievale e missione nel Nuovo Mon- masia. La parte conclusiva de la investigación se dedica do. L’impegno, assunto dalla storiografia missionaria a establecer las modalidades y regiones de la seculariza- cattolica lungo il corso del XIX secolo, costituisce l’esito ción del concepto de misión, es decir, de la transferencia dell’impulso proveniente dagli studi svolti da Alexan- al interés cartográfico del anhelo por la propagación del der von Humboldt intorno all’esplorazione delle Ameri- mensaje cristiano hasta los extremos confines de la tie- che (Examen critique). Le informazioni sullo spazio asia- rra, una transformación que fue predispuesta por la his- tico trasmesse dai missionari operanti durante il XIII e toriografía medieval que en los martirologios insertaba il XIV secolo tra Karakorum e Khanbaliq pervengono a los lugares toponímicos. Cristoforo Colombo mediante Ruggero Bacone (Opus The Franciscans in Cathay: memory of men and places (G. Buffon)

The persistence of the Medieval myth their investigations created a prejudice on the reason- of fuels catholic west- ing about the religious, economic and social effects of the Franciscan complex history in the Asian region. Ac- ward expansionism cording to them, the mission of the minor was a failure from the ecclesiastic and institutional point of The recent publication by Thomas Tanase titled view. Jusqu’aux limites du monde» : la papauté et la mis- sion franciscaine de l’Asie de à l’Amerique In fact, the thesis of the continuity between Eu- de Christophe Colomb1 allows to express an almost fi- roasia mission and overseas mission corroborated by nal judgement both in favour of the continuity between the Tanase study enjoys a long historiographic tradition Euroasia mission and overseas mission and the Francis- stemming from the anthropological and ethnographic can responsibility for the mobilization towards the most studies carried out in the XIX century especially by Alex- extreme frontiers of the Earth,2 as a result of an escha- ander von Humboldt. tological yearning. It also satisfies the reader’s desire to review the perspective traced in the important studies Humboldt dedicates in particular to the study of the by Petech3 and Richard4. Indeed, one cannot deny that sources on Cristopher Columbus the work Examen cri- tique de l’histoire de la géographie du nouveau continent et de progrès de l’astronomie nautique aux quinzième et 1 Rome, École française de Rome, 2013. sixième siècle (5 volumes, Librairie de Gide, 1836– 2 The work, which is already valuable for the collection of a broad range 1839), on which we rely for this reflection. In relation to of updated publications on the history of cartography and geographical Humboldt’s study, Ottmar Ette proposed meaningful discoveries acquires much more significance because it gives a religious in- considerations for our analysis. For example, he high- terpretation of the publications in contrast with economic interpretations lighted that the Examen critique contains the premis- of the modern expansive phenomenon. es of an analysis of the interconnections between the old world and the new world. According to Ette, Hum- 3 Luciano Petech, «I Francescani nell’Asia centrale e orientale nel XIII e boldt’s work recognised already in the XV century the XIV secolo», in Espansione del francescanesimo tra Occidente e Oriente nel se- emergence of a new concept of space and time for colo XIII. Atti del VI Convegno internazionale, Assisi 12–14 ottobre 1978 (As- which Cristopher Columbus was an excellent cultural sisi, Università di Perugia Centro studi francescani, 1979), pp. 213–240; Id, mediator, a sort of engine of the globalization of ideas5. «Les marchands italiens dans l’empire mongol», in Selected papers on Asian History (Roma, Instituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1988), The persistenceof the Medievalmyth of Prester John fuels catholicwestward expansionism pp. 161–186. bis seraphicus (vol. I–VI Romae – Lugduny 1682–1689; vol. VII Quaracchi 1896). Indeed, the divulgation of the Franciscan universalism started with 4 I just mention two of the major works by the author. Jean Richard, La the Orbis seraficus and not with the Annals by Wadding, as Tanase seems papauté et les missions d’Orient au Moyen Age (Roma, École française de to affirm. In Asia and the far East, Franciscan universalism calls for a con- Rome, 1977); (2Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998) ; Id, Au-delà de tinuity between the mission in the Cathay of the and the mission la Perse et de l’Arménie. L’Orient latin et la découverte de l’Asie intérieure. in the of the Mings, an idea already in the minds of the first mission- Quelques textes inégalement connus aux origines de l’alliance entre Francs aries in Western , Martino di Valencia (†1534) and Juan de Zumaraga et Mongols (1146–1262) (Turnhout, Brepols, 2005). According to Richard, (†1548), first of Mexico. evangelization in Asia was unsuccessful and without any legacy (La pa- pauté et les mission d’Orient, p. 294). Modern mission, expanding towards 5 « Au centre de ce questionnement se situe la tentative d’analyse des America, was built on completely new basis. Therefore he thinks that the interactions et entrelacs entre l’Ancien et le Nouveau Mondes aussi bien story of the dissemination of the Christian message should be divided into dans l’espace que dans le temps et de détection des transferts de savoir at least three phases: Christianization of dark ages of Europe; evangeliza- qui concernent tout aussi bien la constitution et la production de nouveau tion of the late which tries to overcome the frontiers of chris- savoir que sa diffusion spécifique dans l’espace. Colomb apparaît en ce tianity; modern mission aiming at reaching a universal church – a global sens comme un médiateur de savoir ou plutôt comme celui qui fait bouger church. The continuity of the history of evangelization could be clarified by le savoir d’un monde intermédiaire sur la scène du ‘théâtre du monde’ the Franciscan historiography. With its chroniclers and analists such as Nic- pour multiplier les objets à l’horizon de la pensée européenne et ainsi ola Glassberger, Mariano da Firenze, Marco da Lisbona and , démultiplier brusquement la ‘masse des idées’ ». Ette, «Réflexions euro- it assumes a long process of missionary expansion which goes from the XIII péennes sur deux phases de mondialisation accélérée», p. 41. On the im- century to the XVI century, exactly from Marco Polo to Cristopher Colum- portance of the studies carried out by Humboldt on the discovery of Amer- bus. On this subject, see what Tanase affirms (Jusqu’aux limites du mode, p. ica, interpreted as a stimulous to start modern globalization, you can see 9), considering Richard as a prisoner of an ideology which is typical of the the following studies: Ottmar Ette, «Entdecker über Entdecker: Alexander decolonization period and which aims at distinguishing between mission von Humboldt, Cristóbal Colón und die Wiederentdeckung Amerikas», in and crusade and consequently between the era of the crusade and the era Titus Heydenreich (dir.), Columbus zwischen zwei Welten. Historische und of the mission. Yet, we cannot keep the lid on an oversight by Tanase him- literarische Wertungen aus fünf Jahrhunderten, (Frankfurt am Main 1992), self. In dealing with the universalistic conception of Franciscan historiog- pp. 401–439; id, «Réflexions européennes sur deux phases de mondiali- raphy, he did not mention at all the work by Domenico De Gubernatis, Or- sation accélérée chez Cornelius de Pauw, Georg Forster, Guillaume-Tho- HiN XVI, 30 (2015) ISSN: 1617-5239 14 Internationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt-Studien The Franciscans in Cathay: memory of men and places (G. Buffon)

But before the German naturalist and geographer The Ligurian historian had no doubts in thinking and, above all, within the framework of Franciscan his- that also the next generation of minor friars drew from toriography, we have to remind that at the end of the the heritage of the old Franciscan presence in Cathay8. XVII century the official chronologist of the order, Do- Indeed under the leadership of Eugene IV the friars en- menico de Gubernatis, in his Orbis seraphicus, a mon- thusiastically looked for the representatives of Asian umental work published in Rome and Lyone between churches and outstanding figures from the Middle East 1682 and 1685, showed his readers the full awareness– willing to participate to the council of to pro- that never faded away–of a sort of continuity between mote the crusade against the Turks9. Moreover, it is ab- the ancient evangelization of Cathay and the modern Chinese mission, supporting a globalized Franciscanism 8 The historian of the Franciscan missions tries to demonstrate the con- and highlighting its universal dimension in opposition sistency of the outcomes of the first Asian missions also after the XIV cen- to the Jesuit attitude, which prefers universal contents tury, despite the obstacles created by the islamization of the Asian region rather than universal spaces and times6. by Tīmūr Barlas (1337–1405) historically known as Tamerlane («the ef- fects of the numerous expeditions of the Friars Minor to Tartary and China In the wake of Domenico de Gubernatis, during the from 1369 to 1371»). His argument primarily aims at demostrating the mis- XIX century, the official historian of the Franciscan mis- take committed by the famous Italian Orientalist Simome Assemani, in the sions, father Marcellino Ranise da Civezza, replaced the third volume of the Bibliotheca orientalis (part II, p. 535), where he declared rhetorical erudition of his predecessor with a rich bibli- that the Minors definitively left China because of the end of the Mongo- ographical research which is the result of a huge effort lian leadership in the region (1369), replaced by the Chinese Ming dinasty. of researches that he carried out in the most prestigious Storia universale delle missioni francescane IV (Roma 1860), pp. 306–308: European libraries. On the basis of such an in-depth 654. It is necessary to take into account that Ranise later challenges the analysis formalized by the author in a volume and at the statements by another famous orientalist, Evariste Regis Huc, who in the same time a review titled «Saggio di bibliografia geo- work Le Christianisme en Chine, en Tartarie et au ( Vol. I. Paris 1813, grafica, storica, etnografica» (Prato 1879), Ranise did not p. 462) failing to consult the famous Franciscan annalist Luke Wadding, hesitate in affirming that the missions promoted by the would date the end of the Franciscan and Dominican missions in China dur- Franciscans Persia, a Caspian area in the Tenduc region, ing the military campaigns of the Tamerlane (1398–1403). Ranise affirms did not end before the discovery of Cape of Good Hope, that several papal documents prove the existence of the mission in Central «continuing in this way the work started in the XIII cen- Asia and China also for most of the XV century. The Franciscan historian be- tury and perpetuated until nowadays»7. lieves that the shortcomings of Huc are grave because it shows some meth- odological flaws. Yet, he was much more concerned for the damage to the Catholic and Roman universalism inflicted by the statements of the French

The persistenceof the Medievalmyth of Prester John fuels catholicwestward expansionism historian. In deed, we shoud not forget the attachment of the author of the mas Raynal et Alexandre de Humboldt», in HiN – Internationale Zeitschrift Storia universale delle missioni francescane to the universalistic idea of the für Humboldt Studien XI, 21 (2010), pp. 24–44: 39–44; id, «Archeologies of ecclesia romana represented by mendicants for which the continuity Eur- Globalization. European Reflexion on Two Phases of Accelarated Globaliza- asia – America is not a secondary issue (Marcellino da Civezza, Il Roma- tion in Cornelius Pauw, Georg Foster, Guillaime-Thomas Raynal and Alex- no Pontificato nella Storia d’ Italia, 3 vol., Firenze 1886–87). Ranise wrote ander von Humboldt», in Culture & History Digital Journal 1/1 (2012): e003. about this: «far from affirming that since then nobody had talked about doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2012.003; Anja Bandau, Marcel Dori- in the areas of Far Asia, there are documets of the gny et Rebekka von Mallinckrodt, Les Mondes coloniaux à Paris au XVIIIe siè- about some regions of not only those of the Mount Caspii in 1422 and cle. Circulation et enchevêtrement des savoir (Paris, Éditions Karthala, 2010). 1429 and 1448 those in China where the apostolic activity of the Friars Mi- nor continued. And we regret that it is not the first time and maybe it will 6 Giuseppe Buffon,Tra spazio e territorio. La missione francescana in epo- not be the last time that we have to warn our readers on some rash state- ca moderna (Assisi, Porziuncola, 2006), pp. 73–80; Id, Sulle tracce di una ments by mr. Huc that nonetheless we highly value for his works about the Storia omessa. Storiografia moderna e contemporanea dell’Ordine francesca- history of Asia. Maybe he did not study well enough, as he usually did for no (Grottaferrata – Roma, Collegio S. Bonavantura, 2011), pp. 184–202; his works and he committed some omissions that someone could not con- Khanbaliq. Profili storiografici intorno al cristianesimo in Cina dal medioevo sider very serious but that for us on the contrary are extremely grave be- all’età contemporanea (XIII–XIX sec.) (Roma, Antonianum, 2014), pp. 221– cause they make people believe that the action of the papacy was over in 239. those areas, whereas on the contrary history tell us that it continued try- ing to fuel the spark of the sacred fire for all the nations of the Earth to 7 It is worthy to quote the whole passage where Ranise affirms the con- rise in a spiritual rebirth in Christ». Storia universale delle missioni fran- tinuity between Asia and America: «in the most remote areas of those im- cescane IV, p. 331. mense regions we left our missionaries until 1486, even though it was ex- tremely difficult to penetrate them, because all communications started 9 Ranise deals with the council of Florence in chapter XIII of the fourth with the Mongols ended and all the colonies created by Genoeses and Ve- volume of his Storia delle missioni, where he illustrates the endeavours of netians collapsed. They governed prosperous Christian communities in Alberto da Sarteano, Bartolomeo da Giano, Giacomo Primaldizi, Francesco Persia, on the Montes Caspii and in Tenduc: thus we can say that they set- and Luigi da Bologna. He concludes his analysis focusing on the mission of tled there until the discovery of Cape of Good Hope». Storia universale delle Antonio da Troia, to the Tartars, Assyrians, Persians, Ethiopians, Maronites, missioni francescane, vol. VI. Dall’anno 1500 al 1550 (Prato 1881), pp. 3–4. Druses, Nestorians and Arameans. He deals with the story of Luigi da Bolo-

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solutely necessary to notice that Eugene IV was the ter the Council of Florence and the failure of the cru- Pope that arbitrated, beyond supporting the hegemo- sade to defend (1453), it was thanks to ny of the devouts in the Holy Land and sending John of the myth of Prester John and that of one powerful de- Capistrano to prepare the offensive against the Turks, scendant of him, a strong ally against Islam, that started the diplomatic-religious match between Portuguese the process of Christian expansion towards the West in and Spaniards, fierce rivals in the rush to conquer the view of a transoceanic leap that would happen in a few Canaries10. years time13.

In fact, for the Portuguese and the Spaniards the oc- poses, to support the Emperor, drafted by a cleric of the court of Frederik cupation of the Canaries as that of the other islands on I (1150–1160). Also the Franciscans Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, William the Atlantic coast of Africa was just one of the numer- of Rubrouck and contributed to the fame of Prest- ous enedeavours in line with the spirit of the crusades, er John, as well as the Dominicans Simon of Saint-Quentin and Andrew because it was part of the so called pincers military op- of Longjumeau, and the most famous Venetian merchant, Marco Polo. eration that according to the plans of the minor Fi- The Venetian traveler confused the identity of that figure with that of the denzio of had to encircle Islam from the West11. prince George of Önggüt, converted to Catholicism in 1294 bt the Francis- The absolute protagonism of the generation of friars can . The author of Divertissement du Monde, Mar- minor contemporary to Eugene IV in organising the co Polo, was in debt with Montecorvino, who sent a letter from Khanbalik Catholic offensive against Islam and the competition in 1305 talking about the conversion of king George, «qui erat de gene- between Spaniards and Portuguese in the conquest of re illius magni Regis, qui dictus fuit Presbiter Iohannes de Yndia» (Atta- the Canaries according to the ideology of the crusades, nasio van de Wyngaert (dir.), Sinica Francescana I, Quaracchi, S. Boneven- were ideologically supported by the famous legend of tura, 1929, 348–349). According to Montecorvino, the conversion of the Prester John. Following the example of the Mongolian Mongolian king triggered the conversion of the whole population of his Gran Khan, who was considered favourable to Christi- kingdom to the Roman Church. Moreover, after his conversion, the prince anity, Prester John’s myth fed the hope to find a pow- wanted to build a sacred building which was necessary for the celebra- erful king in Far Asia ready to forge an alliance in favor tions of the new worshipers. Odoric of Pordenone, by identifying the city of the Christian conquest of the World12. In the years af- of Prester John with the capital of Önggüt (1330), draw from the same her- itage of knowledge disseminated in the Franciscan milieu (Alvise Adreose, La strada, la Cina, il Cielo. Studi sulla Relatio di Odorico da Pordenone e sulla gna also in the following volume (XIV, 1453–1550), focusing on his trips to sua fortuna romanza, Catanzaro, Rubbettino, 2012, pp. 109–116). In deed, Ethiopia, Persia, Tartary and India aiming both at preparing the civil pok- in 1440 the Franciscan Luigi da Bologna introduced to the papal court of er to the crusade and to promote the dissemination of faith. In this vol- Pius II a person who claimed to be Prester John’s ambassador. It was a sur- ume, he is also interested in the appointed for from 1405

The persistenceof the Medievalmyth of Prester John fuels catholicwestward expansionism prising event, despite doubts and perplexities on the true identity of that to 1456 (chapter V) and in the vestiges of Christianity in Beijing, Persia, in man; therefore the Pope decided to appoint him as patriarch of Antiochia the Crimean peninsula (Caffa) amd in Abissinia (chap. VI). He then dedicat- and delegate to the East. It is also necessary to remind that he established ed three chapters to the mission in the Canaries (chap. VII–IX) and to those contacts with various European courts such as that of Bourgogne where, promoted by Spain in the Mediterranean coasts of Africa, dealing then in 1445 two envoys of the king of Portugal arrived in search of information with the crusade planned by the iberical monarchs, decided to support a about prester John. A. Bargellesi Severi, «Nuovi documenti su fr. Lodovico military action to conquer Jerusalem (chap. X). Then the volume goes on da Bologna, al secolo Lodovico Severi, Nunzio Apostolico in Oriente (1455– with two more chapters (XI and XII) dedicated both to the preparations of 1457)», in Archivun Franciscanum Historicum 69 (1976), 3–22; Jacques Pa- Columbus for the transoceanic sailing and to the relationships between viot, Les ducs de Bourgogne, la croisade et l’Orient (fin XVIe–XVe siècle) (Pa- the Genoese navigator and the Franciscans of the Rábida monastery. ris, Presses de l’Univ. de Paris-Sorbonne, 2003), pp. 262–265. 10 Tanase, Jusqu’aux limites du monde, pp. 716–718 13 John of Capistrano proved to be a decisive figure in the aftermath of 11 On the plan elaborated by Fidenzio of Padua, in view of the crusade in the fall of Constantinople. He stopped the advance of Mehmed II, thrilled the Holy Land, see the remarks by Paolo Evangelisti, «La crociata allo spec- the conquest of the capital of the Byzantine Empire and decided to ex- chio. Andare in Oriente per ripensare i paradigmi politici dell’Occidente», tend his domination towards central Europe. The victory in Belgrade by the in Alvaro Cacciotti and Maria Melli (dir.), I Francescani e la crociata, (Milano, army of volunteers gathered by the Franciscan fro Abruzzi was praised by Biblioteca francescana di Milano, 2014), pp. 275–321. the Catholic community also thanks to Callixtus II, who organized numer- ous processions and celebrations to support the hagiography of the martyr 12 Ranise shows great interest for the role played in the Western Christi- alive, become a model and a symbol unsuitable for the propaganda cam- anity by this original figure, dedicating him numerous pages and focusing paign to relaunch the crusade. But it was the successor of Callixtus, II, Pope more and more times on the event with new information about the impor- Piccolomini (Pius II), supporter of the faith in Capistrano and Bernardino tance of the Minors as architects of his fame and ‘inventors’ of his mean- da Siena, who wrote an essay on Europe and one on Asia, assuming a glob- ing to the benefit of the missionary actions (Storia universale della missioni al crusade for the reconquest of Jerusalem. Colombo himself read careful- francescane I, cap. IX; II, cap X; III, cap. I; VI, cap IX: 336–342). The legendary ly and took notes on the De Asia by Pius II, a text supporting the vocation figure of Prester John, already known thanks to the Chronica by Otto of Fre- for the universal mission of the . Civezza, Storia universale del- ising (1114–1158), assumes a more important meaning due to an Epistula la missioni francescane IV, pp. 625–645; Tanase, Jusqu’aux limites du mon- latina addressed to Manuele Comneno, a fake with clear anti-papal pur- de, pp. 698–701.

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The historiographic fracture the texts by Henrion17, Wittman18 and Marshal19. In com- parison, he mentioned as examples, some protagonists According to Marcellino Ranise da Civezza, if one ac- of the real discoveries in the field of documents research cepts the hypothesis of a fracture between Eurasia and such as Santarem20 D’Avezac 21, Jimenes de la Espada22, America, or between the Medieval evangelization mis- Morel Fatio23 until Oscar Ferdinand Peschel24, who had sion and the modern mission, this hypothesis would the merit for having discovered the manuscript by the involve historiography rather than the actual events. friar Pietro Bonthier about the discovery of Northern Af- Therefore, the fracture would be the result of a heuristic gap rather than of the lack of documents testifying the reality of the events. According to the Franciscan histo- 17 Mathieu Richard Auguste Henrion (1805-1862) Histoire générale des The historiographic fracture historiographic The rian, such a gap can only be the consequence of the fail- missions catholiques depuis le XIIIe siècle jusqu’à nos jours (Paris, Adminis- ure of the Franciscan historiography to record the ap- tration de la Librairie, 1844–1847). ostolic continuity between the Medieval evangelization mission and the modern evangelization mission. This is 18 Patrizio Wittman, La Gloria della chiesa nelle sue missioni dall’epoca why, trying to fill this gap, Civezza put in the first of the dello scisma nella fede ossia storia universale della missioni cattoliche negli volumes constituting the new series of his work «Sto- ultimi tre secoli, 2 vol. (Milano 1942–1943). ria universale delle missioni» (“Universal history of mis- 19 Thomas William Marshal (1818–1874), Die Christlichen Missionen, 3 vol. sions”) some important integrations concerning the ori- (Regensburg 1863) (Les missions chretiennes, 2 vol., Paris 1865; Le missioni gin of the Asian mission and its developments until the Cristiane, 3 vol., Napoli 1888). time of Cristopher Columbus. 20 Manuel Francisco de Barros e Sousa, Visconte di Santarém (1791- The choice made by the author is for us absolute- 1856),, Saggio sulla storia della cosmografia e della geografia nel medioevo, ly emblematic. Indeed, by mentioning the studies on 2 vol. (Parigi 1848); Essai sur I’Histoire de la Cosmographie et de la Cartogra- the Asian missions of the XIII and the XIV century in the phie pendant le Moyen-âge, 2 vol., Paris 1849-1850. The Universal annals of volume exclusively dedicated to the Franciscan mission statistics and public economy, geography, history, travels and trade (Mi- of the first fifty years of the sixteenth century, Civezza lan 1849, 5) present the work as the best comment to the history of Medi- shows his determination or his obstinacy. In order to eval cosmography by Humboldt, particularly appreciating the illustration prove the link between the Euroasian mission and the of the Italian geographers and travelers. mission in the New World, he is even ready to subvert the chronological structure of the volume. Moreover, 21 Marie-Armand-Pascal d’Avezac y Macaya (1799–1875), in the capac- to corroborate the thesis on the responsibility of his- ity of official of the navy ministry attended history, geography, old and toriography for the gaps on the Medieval evangeliza- modern cartography and mathematical geography, focusing mainly on the tion mission and the modern mission, Marcellino Ranise Italian travelers such as Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, Marco Polo, Christo- da Civezza highlighted the omissions identified in the pher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, about whom he published numerous works by Bartoli14, Maffei15, Charlevoix16 and others in documents in Nouvelles annales des Voyages e nell’Encyclopédie Nouvelle. Among his works, it is worthy to recall: Les îles fantastiques de l’Ocean occi- dental au Moyen-Âge (1845), Ethicus et les ouvrages cosmographiques intitu- léś de ce nom (1852), Martin Hilacomylus Waltzeemüller (1867).

22 In relation to the work by Marcos Jiménez de la Espada (1831–1898), Spanish explorer and zoologist, Civezza referred to the publication titled 14 Daniello Bartoli (1608–1685), Jesuite historian and theologian whos Cuestion bibliografica por d. M. Jimenes de la Espada, Madrid, Medina y Na- main work is the Istoria della Compagnia di Gesù (1653–73), divided in nu- varro, 1875 and the introduction by Civezza to the Libro del conoscimiento merous sections: Assia, Japan, China, England, Italy, Rome, Ignazio de’ La- de todos los reynos (Madrid, Fortanet, 1877). zzeri, 1660–1663. The work was published again during the XIX century bt several publishing houses: Marietti–Torino 1925–1929; Birindelli - Firenze, 23 Alfred Morel-Fatio (1850–1924) professor at the École des Chartes 1830 (Japan); Aurelij–Ancona, 1843 (China). and at the Collège de France was famous for his hectic search to archive everything, that led him to publish literature, chronicles and documents 15 Pietro Maffei (1536–1578), Jesuit latinist and historian, author of nu- about the Spanish monarchy as his publications prove: Recueil des instruc- merous works such as: Historiarum Indicarum (libri XVI). Selectarum item ex tions données aux ambassadeurs et ministres de France (1894) and Chro- India epistolarum (libri IV), Florentiae 1585; De vita et moribus Ignatii Loio- nique des rois de Castille, as well as Catalogue des manuscrits espagnols et lae qui Societatem Iesu fundavit, (libri III), Romae 1585. portugais (1889–92).

16 Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix (1682–1761), Jesuit missionary 24 Oscar Ferdinand Peschel (1826–1875), professor at the Leipzig univer- operating in Canada. In 1720 the ruler of France sent him to explore North- sity, in the wake of Humboldt (Geschichte der Erdkunde bis auf A. v. Hum- ern America where he went up the river Saint Lawrence and the Missis- boldt und K. Ritter, 2 vol., 1865) focuses particularly on the studies of com- sippi Lakes. Among his works, we remind: Histoire et description générale parative geography (Neue Probleme der vergleichenden Erdkunde, 1870), de la Nouvelle France, Parigi (1744); New York (1865–72), Histoire du Ja- showing his interest for natural environments; he was famous above all pon (1715), Histoire de St. Domingue (1730) and Histoire du Paraguay (1756). for his Geschichte der Erdkunde.

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rica and the Canaries and, above all, for having contrib- domain created a network of exchanges that reached uted to discover an unknown code of the work credit- its acme in 1875, when the first international congress ed to Bonthier himself about the Portuguese navigation of the americanists took place. along the shores of Guinea25. Ranise attracted the atten- tion on the studies about Marco Polo, Odoric of Porde- Marcellino Ranise da Civezza did not only offer a bib- none and John of Marignola carried out by Yule26, those liographical essay to confirm his own thesis on the con- about the itinerary of Giovanni da Pian del Carpine car- tinuity between Asia and the New World, but he also ried out by D’Avezac27 and those about William of Rub- traced a genealogy of figures and events pointed out rouck, Odoric of Pordenone and Ricoldo da Montecroce in those publications. First, he focused on the profiles carried out by da Bacher28. of some missionaries in the ultramarine regions, from

Between Beijing Feodosia and Greece to the Holy Land, whose story quoted in the The Franciscan historian referred to the studies car- «Chronaca» by Salimbene de Adam was unknown even ried out by overseas americanists about the idea of the to Wadding30. He then focused on Giovanni da Pian del trips to the New World. He observed that like the Eu- Carpine, a Pope envoy in Tartary, exalting his capacity ropean scholars he previously mentioned, they were not only to take note of habits, customs and territories strongly interested in the manuscript by friar Pietro but also to try to transmit them, by conveying his own Bonthier about the discovery of Northern Africa and experience and above all by inciting to read the book the Canaries, that «deals with daring trips of the Euro- that he wrote. Then, he studied William of Rubruck, out- peans and the missionaries in Asia and Africa, unknown lining his interesting personality by quoting some pas- until now»29. It is therefore clear that in the historic per- sages of the work by Backer31. By mentioning a long spective of Civezza, there is a synergy between the Eu- passage of De Conformitate by Bartolomeo da , he roasian mission and the New World mission which is finally intertwined the net of the places constituting the based not only on the sources but also on the interest geography of the Franciscan presence in Asia between for their discoveries. the XIII and the XIV century, when it reached its biggest expansion32. As for the evidence of the extension of the «Last year in 1879, the Congress of the Americanists was Franciscan mission offered by the works by Odoric of held in Brussels», the Franciscan historian wrote, «and Pordenone and Jean de Mandeville, Civezza just gave its records were very important from the geographical, simple bibliographical indications, aware of the celeb- historical and ethnographic point of view». Storia uni- rity of those documents on which cartographers, geog- versale della missioni francescane VI, 5 footnote 2. Con- raphers, scholars and orientalists relied, and even histo- sidering the countinous references made by Civezza to rians of the Enlightenment attracted by the exoticism of Humboldt, it is important to notice that the real ameri- the marvel. canist science started exactly with Humboldt’s trips to America and with the publication of his great work Vues des Cordillères et monumens des peuples indigènes de Between Beijing and Feodosia l’Amérique (Paris 1810). Later, the growing interest in this In order to prove the continuity of a mission which was undoubtedly influenced by the political and religious 25 Le Canarien: livre de la conquête et conversion des Canaries (1402– significance of the main events of the XIV century, Mar- 1422). Publié d’après le manuscrit original avec introduction et notes par Gabriel Gravier (Rouen, C. Métérie, 1874). 30 Chronica Fr Salimbene Parmensis, Ordinis Minorum, ex Cod. Vaticano 26 , Cathay and the Way Thither. Being a Collection of Medieval nunc primum edita (Parmae, Petri Fiaccadori, 1857). Notices of China, 2 vol. (London, 1866). Yule (1820–1889), 31 Guillaume de Rubrouck, Ambassadeur de Saint-Louis en Orient. Ré- Scottish orientalist, focused on the history of Central Asia in the Middle cit de son voyage, cap. I, p. 29 ; cap. XX, p. 13 ; cap. XXI, p. 14, cap. XXIII, p. 7. Age, succesfully publishing the abovementioned study on Cathay and an- other one on Marco Polo, for which he was awarded with the golden medal 32 In relation to the work by Pisano, the historian referred to some crit- of the Royal Geographical Society, that he later presided over. ical considerations he had already made in his Saggio di bibliografia geo- grafica storica etnografica, (Prato, Ranieri Guasti, 1879), where he illustrat- 27 Relation des Mongols, ou Tartares, par le Frère Jean du plan de Carpin, ed Affò’s thought about the De conformitate condemned to the oblivion par M. d’Avezac (Paris, Dondey Dupré, 1838). after the denigrating campaign waged by the Protestants who had even 28 Guillaume de Rubrouck, Ambassadeur de Saint-Louis en Orient. Ré- distorted its title, replacing it with Coranum Franciscanum. Ultimately, cit de son voyage. Traduit de l’original latin et annoté par Louis de Backer Civezza wanted to be the guarantor of an operation with which he attrib- (Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1877) ; L’Extrême Orient au Moyen-âge d’âpres les ma- uted historical value as documents to the geographical indications given nuscrits d’un flamand de Belgique moine de Saint-Bertin a Saint-Omer et d’un by Pisano, whereas for the scientific community its work was just a mere prince d’Arménie moine de Prémontré a Poitiers, (Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1877). booklet. «This book was uselessly discredited by the Jewish and derided by some idiots who never had the patience to read it». Saggio di bibliografia 29 Storia universale della missioni francescane VI, 5. geografica storica etnografica, p. 471

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cellino Ranise da Civezza preferred showing the excep- trate the interest of the Pope for the Asian mission and, tional data discovered in a publication on the tauro-li- in particular, he highlighted the interest of the great gurian colonies in the Crimean peninsula and in another supporter of the Council of Florence, Eugene IV, for the on the historic Commentarii Crimea33. The new elements main protagonists of the Franciscan mission: James of allowed the author to «better illustrate more than one the Marches, Alberto da Sarteano and John of Capist- mission of the Franciscans and the Dominicans in the rano. Moreover, he recalled the actions of the Popes same country: a mission that we just mentioned in the Martin V, Nicholas V and Callixtus III. Relying on the in- previous volumes, but that can be dealt with all the in- formation written in the diplomatic code of the Tauris teresting and wonderful details now»34. Ligurian colonies, he highlighted the requests submit- ted to the Pope and to the general minister of the order

Between Beijing Feodosia and In the following pages, the author was clearly satis- by the Genoese merchants and the local population in fied to list the names of the various missions: Feodosia, order to have missionaries and Franciscan bishops37. In Crim, Sudak, Mangut, Balaclava, Cembalo, Cherson, Sev- closing, he stressed the measures adopted by the order astopol, Ikerman, Kertch. These were the places already for a universal mobilization in favour of the crusade38. mentioned in the reports of the first crusade and then presented again in the trip itineraries drafted by Gen- In summary, it is right to reiterate that in the historic oese and Venetian merchants. Among the toponyms, perspective of Marcellino Ranise da Civezza the attrac- one can identify the places that depended on the Fran- tion for the Far East, although weakened by the imper- ciscan diocesis of Feodosia, a stage of their «peregri- meability of the Muslim regime, still had a central role nations across Asia, after having been lead to the East in the awareness of the Pope and in the unconscious in 1219 by the same seraphic Father»35. The Franciscan of the Western world until the end of the XV century, delegates of the Pope traced their itineraries still on the thanks to the activism shown by the Franciscan order in map of Tauris, while they yearned to promote unity with the religious and diplomatic field in favour of the mis- the eastern churches and the alliance of the Christians sionary expansion! The anxiety for a ground invasion against the Islamic antagonist. of Asia that intertwined the alliance between Francis- cans and Genoeses in the effort to safeguard the Tauri In concluding his close examination, the historian re- outpost of Feodosia heralded transoceanic campaigns ferred again to the Feodosia of Friar Girolamo, remind- thrilled by the same Asian goal. The historian reminded ing his election by Pope John XXII (1318) and, above all, that during the fall of Feodosia, in 1475, Friar Alessan- his previous office as suffragan of John of Mon- dro da Caffa, bishop of the suffraganean Cembalo, that tecorvino. According to Ranise’s historical perspective, Wadding confused with Cambalik (Beijing), chose to live Tauris was a new headquarter of the old Khanbaliq mis- sion and the missionaries who lived there carried out an extensive apostolic activity across the region «reaching out on the one hand to their brothers in Persia, and on the other hand to those in India and China»36. 37 «And this was the aim of the letter that they wrote to the Pope one year later imploring him to send numerous brothers to that monastery as Under the pressure of the Ottoman Turks, who later soon as possible, because the people extraordinarily loved and respected took those territories causing the defeat of Constanti- them. […] They also wrote to the cardinal of the holy church and the min- nople, the friars enhanced their commitment fueling ister general of the Order, Friar Francesco della Rovere, explaining that it the ideology of the crusade and contributing together was impossible to express the love of the people of Feodosia for the Fran- with the Pope to establish diplomatic relationships with ciscans. Moreover, being those brave friars more important than the sol- the major European powers in order to raise the nec- diers in the defense of the city, they prayed to listen to their request». Sto- essary money to fund the armed campaign. Marcellino ria universale delle missioni VI, p. 29–30. Ranise da Civezza dedicated numerous pages to illus- 38 «So, first he implored the General Minister of the Order to invite all his brothers who were preaching in favour of the crusade, to call for help and 33 Amedeo Vigna, Codice diplomatico delle colonie Tauro-Liguri durante la support to defend Feodosia, and among the collectors proposed by Cardi- signoria dell’Ufficio di S. Giorgio (1453–1475), Atti della Società ligure di Sto- nal Giorgio Fieschi to the Lords of san Giorgio to collect handouts, there ria patria, vol. VI (Genova, R.I. de’ Sordi-Muti, 1968); vol. VII (Genova, R.I. were also two Franciscans, Cristoforo di Ceva and Leonardo Grillo; […] All de’ Sordi-Muti, 1971–1979); Id., Della Crimea, del suo commercio e de’ suoi those groups of missionaries in the East worked side by side to defend the dominatori dalla origini fino ai dì nostri, Commentari storici dell’Avvocato Mi- cause that risked to deteriorate […] Meanwhile Callixtus III, with the let- chele Giuseppe Canale, vol. I (Genova, R.I. de’ Sordi-Muti, 1955). ter of March, the fourteenth and of May the fifteenth 1456, sent Friar Gia- como de Mozzanica, minister general of the Minors, to the Duke Sforza of 34 Storia universale delle missioni VI, p. 19. Milan and the Marquise Giovanni di Monferrato to urge them to save Feo- 35 Storia universale delle missioni VI, p. 22. dosia; at the same time he appointed them as collectors of the handouts asked to the Christians (christianitas) for the same purpose». Storia univer- 36 Storia universale delle missioni VI, p. 23. sale delle missioni VI, pp. 27–28.

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in Tuscany where, in 1485, he consacrated a Church of crusade pursued by the West in the fight against the his own order39. Turks, and under John I the country started the con- quest of Ceuta (1414), because it didn’t want to be sec- Yet, at that time, Enea Silvio Piccolomini wrote his ond to Spain, always fighting against the Moors. The «Somnium», the work where he dreamt of reconquer- conquest of Ceuta, mainstop for Morocco, seemed to ing the heart of the Christian East, Jerusalem, thanks to aim at starting trade with Damascus to prove that the the intervention of Constantine and the spiritual leader- center of the Portuguese action always moved towards ship of Bernardino of Siena, who played a leading role Asia, the craved destination of the papacy and now also as a spiritual guide, like Beatrice in the Divine Commedy cut through by the routes of the Venetian and Genoese by Dante40. merchants42.

Also after the failure of the Portuguese effort in the From the Asia of the Genoese to the African inland, the research for new solutions did not India of the Portuguese set aside the symbolic incentives of the ideal crusader aiming at encircling Islam according to the strategy sug- After concluding the history of the Eurasian Franciscan gested by the Popes to the Portuguese kings. Therefore, mission, Marcellino Ranise da Civezza analyses the de- even the exploration of the African coast and of the velopments of the Franciscan presence in the regions nearby islands, which savored like the future transoce- conquered by the Portuguese on the Atlantic side. He anic experience, were included in the traditional plan of drew a connection between the two events–seemingly the crusade that now the Portuguese contended with distant only from the point of view of time, but actually the Spaniards. It is not a coincidence that the efforts to From the Asia the of Genoese the to India the of Portuguese also from the point of view of space–through an over- oppose Northafrican Islam made by John I and his third- view on the Christian presence in Morocco, mentioning born son Henry the Navigator between 1415 and 1436, also the story of the Franciscan protomartyrs and other prepared the real crusade organized in 1437 by Alfonso stories of the Iberian friars to settle in those areas41 with V against Tunis43. the same contrast as the Muslim rival. As Ranise highlighted, this new and bitterer failure At this point, the author seemed to suggest that urged new Atlantic explorations lead by Henry the Nav- the Portuguese government endorsed the ideal of the igator who ventured along the African coast reaching Senegal in 1443 and Gambia and in 1555– 1556 44. Afterwards, Henry received precise indications 39 Storia universale delle missioni VI, p. 33. by the Pope who urged him to sail towards and India in search of the legendary Prester John45, a project 40 Alessandro Scafi, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Dialogo su un sogno: Dialogus already proposed during the Council of Florence when de somnium quodam, (Torino, Aragno, 2004). Piccolomini’s work titled Di- Eugene IV gave similar indications to Alberto da Sarte- alogus was published for the first time in Rome in 1475 by Iohannes Sch- ano46. urener. Giuseppe Cugnoni (Aeneae Silvii Piccolomini Senensis qui postea fuit Pius II pon. max: Opera inedita descripsit ex codicibus chisianis vulgavit no- tisque illustravit Josephus Cugnoni, Chisianae bibliothecae praefectus, Roma 1883) published a second edition declaring it was Piccolomini’s (pp. 234– 42 Storia della missioni francescane VI, p. 58–59. 299) unreleased work, titled Tractatus. S. Bernardino informed his eminent 43 «We saw again the Portuguese in Africa in 1458, when Alfonso V af- disciple that the garden of Eden was in a region of the Far East, beyond the ter a short resistance took Alcacer-Ceguer (Ksar-es-srit) between Ceuta territory that Ptolemy identified with China. About cosmography, he dared and Tangeri on the river Larache; it was an expedition which had to be to correct Albert the Great, affirming that the great Dominican thinker was linked to the crusade launched by Callixtus III against the Turks in 1457, too busy to deal with other studies to focus on geography. Scalfi, Enesa Sil- and which had no effects because of his death». Storia della missioni fran- vio Piccolomini, Dialogo su un sogno, pp. 275–283. cescane VI, p. 58. 41 Ranise, after writing numerous pages on the disappearance of Chris- 44 On the role played by Henry the Navigator in the Portuguese expan- tianity in Africa, at the end of the XIII century, went on by saying: «Since sive policy aimed at expanding Christianity, see: David Abulafia, The dis- then, history has talked only about christian slaves or renegades: no bish- covery of Mankind. Atantic Enconters in the age of Columbus (New Haven/ ops or churches which were destroyed and converted in Mosques […]. Yet, London, Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 82–86; Peter Edward Russell, there is the exception of a Church in Morocco, where the Franciscans sent Prince Henry “the navigator”, A Life (New-Haven/London, Yale University there by their seraphic father kept alive the spark of faith thanks to their press, 2000). predications and their martyrdom, and whose story we have narrated un- til the end of the XV century. Here we add some important details that we 45 Charles-Martial De Witte, «Les bulles pontificales et l’expansion por- learned from later studies, and namely the conquests made by the Por- tugaise au XVe siècle», in Revue d’Histoire Ecclésiastique 49/2–3 (1954), pp. tuguese in those regions with the participation of the Franciscans trying 438–462: 455. to expand their apostolic ministry». Storia universale delle missione fran- cescane VI, p. 55. 46 Tanase, Jusqu’aux limites du monde, p. 717.

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In the chapter about the Portuguese navigation to- tives of the Eastern Churches in Asia. In particular, he wards India, Marcellino Ranise da Civezza insisted again made a long overview on the different traditions about on the link between the modern Portuguese endeav- Prester John and the contributions by the Franciscans our and the medieval tradition related to the Francis- of Jerusalem to the Portuguese discoveries of the Abys- can Asia. After mentioning the endeavours of the Arab, sinian Christianity, confirming the strong appeal of the Jewish and Muslim travelers during the XI century, he myth of the anti-Islamic ally stemming from the Medi- dealt with the papal initiative of the Franciscans William eval Franciscan adventure in Cathay. About this, Mar- of Rubrouck and Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and that cellino Ranise da Civezza quoted a long passage of the of the Genoeses who, during the crusade, experienced Annales Maritimos by Albano Silveira52, where he clearly «faster routes and paths»47, thanks to the agreements stated that the myth of Prester John was the real ho-

The discoveryof the Canaries sealed with Saracens Turks and Armenians. According rizon of the Portuguese explorations along the African to him, the Azores and Madeira were discovered by the Coast beyond Cape of Good Hope and until Asia. John Genoese Valdino and Guido Vivaldi, as reported by the II, king of Portugal, after asking his mathematicians to Portolano mediceo, that Ranise attributed to another analyze the information about Prester John, decided Genoese48. to engage in the exploration of the territories, ordering Bartolumeu Dias to go ahead by sea and to the Francis- Among the Genoese explorations there is the story can Anthony of to go ahead overland: «Search- of the two Friars Minor who participated in the discov- es went on, Civezza reported, and they soon found the ery of the Canaries made in 1291 by Tedisio Doria and long-searched monarch, even if the reality did not co- Ugolino Vivaldi49. The anonymous Franciscan known as incide with his fame. Civezza concluded that the con- Montebaroccio, who lived in the Noli monastery, sailed tribution of the Minor Order to this success was quite on the galleys of the Genoese Antonio da Noli who clear»53. was the first to reach the islands of Cape Verde (1440)50. Marcellino Ranise da Civezza pointed out Antoniotto For the Franciscan historian, Portuguese geographi- Usodimare as the real mediator between the Francis- cal discoveries were an extension of the idea of the cru- can-Genoese experience and the Portuguese courage. sade and they did not take attention away from the goal Supported by Henry the Navigator, he «went beyond of the fight against Islam. In this perspective, we can un- eight hundred miles, where no Christian had never ar- derstand how the purpose pursued by the Portuguese rived; he reached the land of Prester John or Abissinia, in circumnavigating Africa was not just the mere con- where he found a descendant of the Vivalda galley»51. quest of the continents, but rather the creation of the crusade’s medieval myth of Prester John, fueled by the Thanks to Antoniotto Usodimare, the Portuguese debate which took place during the Council of Florence. reached the country of Prester John, where they met Therefore, the Portuguese who always wanted the fran- those who were getting of the galleys of Ugolino Viv- ciscan presence in their navigations aimed at reaching aldi and Tedisio Doria, where the two Friars Minor were the Cathay of the Gran Khan from the West, hoping that traveling. The author clearly illustrated the reasons why Gran Khan would be in favour of the Christians. the Portuguese discoveries depended on the Francis- can medieval tradition, dealing with the contribution of the Minors to the Council of Florence. The historian The discovery of the Canaries widely reported on the links between the friars Alberto da Sarteano and Luigi da Bologna and the representa- Marcellino Ranise da Civezza explicitly affirmed the con- tinuity between the Asian mission and the discovery of America, taking into account the role played by the 47 Storia della missioni francescane VI, p. 200. 52 Annales maritimos et coloniae, publicação mensual redigida sob a di- 48 Storia della missioni francescane VI, p. 201. reção da Assiciação maritima colonial, ser V. Memoria chronologica ecerca do 49 «The said Vivaldi brothers were on board of those galleys not only descobrimiento da terra do Prete João das Indias e ambaixadas que a ello en- with other citizens but also with two Friars Minor of San Francis». Storia viaram os Portuguezes, coordenada pelo socio Albano Silveira (Lisboa 1820). della missioni francescane VI, p. 201. 53 Storia della missioni francescane VI, p. 342. The proposal of John II of 50 «According to what Barro says, in 1440 the Genoese Antonio da Noli Portugal to send the abovementioned Franciscan missions in search of Pre- and two other members of his family discovered the island of Cape Verde. ster John, was the alternative to the project that Columbus had submitted This is the clear explanation of the evangelization carried out by the Fran- to the Portuguese king, that was sailing to the India of Prester John cross- ciscan from Montebaroccio in the monastery of Noli on the western coast ing the Ocean (Jacques Heers, Christophe Colomb, Paris, Hachette, 1991, p. of we referred to in the previous chapter». Storia della missioni fran- 185). In relation to the trip of the Franciscans, see Teodosio Somigli da S. cescane VI, p. 203. Detole, Etiopia Francescana nei documenti dei secoli XVII e XVIII I (Quaracchi, S. Bonavantura, 1928), LXXXIX; Geo Pistarino, «I Portoghesi verso l’Asia del 51 Storia della missioni francescane VI, p. 203. Prete Gianni», in Studi Medievali 3a serie 2,1 (1961), pp. 74–137: 118.

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Spanish government in the missionary history. In this the desire of new adventures to explore new territories matter, he particularly focused on the influence of the and peoples which lead to the discovery of the New Franciscans first on the discovery of the Canaries and World, the beginning of the complete exploration of then on the ambitious project to reach Asia from the the whole globe where we live» 57. West crossing the Atlantic Ocean. For the contribution of the Franciscan tradition in Asia to the plan of Cristo- As for the document maybe written by a Francis- pher Columbus, the author preferred to rely on the in- can traveler or a simple writer, the Ligurian historian fluential testimony by Alexander von Humboldt, strong thought that it was a real scoop of cartographical sci- supporter of the reliance of Cristopher Columbus on Ba- ence about the regions of Africa until Far Asia. The notes con and, thus, on Rubrouck. of the Franciscan in the Middle Ages about the routes

The discoveryof the Canaries from Azof to «Catayo» are more precise than those by Marcellino Ranise da Civezza–already engaged in Pegolotti (1335), the author of a handbook for mer- a book to which friar Pietro Bonthier and Giovanni Le chants58. Moreover, his indications about the Canaries, Verrier, the two historians of the Canaries expedition re- in Madeira and the Azors were made a decade before ferred–had the privilege to find the manuscript whose the charts of Florence (1351)59 and , by Francesco publication was possible thanks to Jimenes de la Espa- and Domenico Pizigani (1367)60, the Catalan charts and da, who had discovered the original manuscript in the those from Majorca (1375–1378)61, giving also clarifica- Library of Madrid. The work titled Conoscimento del to- tions of the location of at least ten more islands belong- dos leo reynos, y tierras y segnorios que son por el mundo ing to the same archipelagus. He also gave the correct (Madrid 1877) gave Ranise the chance to add another definition of the Rio de Oro, the Niger of Ptolemy, Pliny segment of missionary history, developing an ideal fil and Marino Sanudo (1321)62, the Nil Gana of the ancient rouge linking Eurasia to America. In fact, the thesis of Arab geographers, not to mention the information on continuity was already confirmed by verifying that the the Gulf of Guinea, Sinus aethiopicus, designed for the Minors really drafted that document. According to the author, the person who wrote the manuscript in mid- XIV century was a Franciscan because–by offering pre- cise indications on the place where the Genoese galleys lead by Tedisio Doria and Ugolino Vivaldi (1291) sinked 57 Storia universale delle missioni francescane VI, p. 82. (Amanahea)–he showed astonishment about the dis- covery of the presence of two Friars Minor on those 58 Francio Balducci Pegolotti, La pratica della mercatura (Cambridge MA galleys54. By analyzing the book, Marcellino Ranise da 1936), pp. 20–31. At the beginning of his work, the author included some Civezza suggested that the author of Conoscimento was information on the routes of Cathay, without any practical purpose be- himself a traveler55, maybe belonging to the Pilgrim Fa- cause he was mainly interested in the Middle East, but with an ideological thers, or that he was just a person who «collects mem- purpose considering the exotic element, which is an ingredient of the typi- ories that he knows» or conveyed by «travelers, writing cal culture of the Italian-Florentine merchant. a magnificent universal geography essay, that nobody had never written before»56. 59 Civezza referred to a Medici code (Florence, Laurentian Library, Gaddi 9, ff. 3v–4r) described by Gio. Battista Baldelli (Il Milione di Marco Polo te- Later, he added that «finally, nobody knows about sto di lingua del secolo decimo terzo, Firenze, Giuseppe Pagani 1827, CLIII– these trips and the reports written on them and then CXIX). On the cartography of the Renaissance, also in reference to the use read in the monasteries (as we know also from Salim- made by Columbus, it is useful to see the study by Corradino Astengo, bene), and the copies diffused that contributed to raise «The Renaissance chart tradition in the Mediterranean», in David Wood- ward (dir.), The History of Cartography, Vol. 3. Cartography in the Europe- an Renaissance (Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 2007), 54 To corroborate his reasoning, the historian quotes a long passage of pp. 174–237. the abovementioned manuscript: «Eodem anno (1291) Thedisius Auriae, Ugollinus de Vivaldo, et eius frater quibusdam aliis civibus Ianuae coepe- 60 On this map, see Giuseppe Caraci, “A conferma del già detto: Anco- runt facere quaddam viaggium, quod aliquis usque nunc facere minime at- ra sulla paternità delle carte nautiche anonime,” Memorie Geografiche 6 temptavit […] In quibus inverunt dicti duo fratres de Vivaldo personaliter, (1960), pp. 129–40: 138–39. et duo Fratres Minores : quod quidem mirabile fuit non solum videntibus sed audientibus.» Iacobi Auriae, Annales, t. XVIII. Monumenta Germaniae 61 Julio Rey Pastor, Ernesto García Camarero, La cartografia mallorquina historica, by Henricii Pertz, Annovarae 1826–1872, quoted in Storia univer- (Madrid 1960), p. 14. sale della missioni francescane VI, p. 80 footnote 1. 62 We refer to the maps produced by Pietro Visconte and included by Ma- 55 For an updated edition of the work, see: N. F Marino (dir), El libro del rino Sanudo in the Liber secretorum fidelium crucis super Terrae Sanctae re- conoscimiento de todos los reinos. The Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms, cuperatione et conservazione, an essay aiming at encouraging the organiza- (Tempe, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1999). tion of a new crusade to free the Holy Land. The liber secretorum published in Gesta dei per Francos II, Hanovie Wechelianis apud heredes Ioannis Au- 56 Storia universale delle missioni francescane VI, p. 81. brii, 1611, was printed again in Jerusalem in 1972.

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first time in the Borgia planisphere (1452)63 and in that Ranise da Civezza by quoting Humboldt, affirms that of friar Mauro (1457–1459)64. «among the authors consulted by Columbus, the pre- ferred author was undoubtedly Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly. In order to definitively prove the link between Asia There is no doubt that Pierre d’Ailly eliminated from the and America, between the Middle Ages and the Re- letter Opus majus by Friar Rogero Bacone the passages naissance, Marcellino Ranise da Civezza relied on Hum- taken by Columbus as evidence of the truth of the great boldt, whose work was a thorough analysis of the project of discovering the New World»68. sources, used also by Columbus to plan the Transoce- anic crossing towards the region that he expected to be Indeed, for Humboldt, Bacon played a key role for Asia. The German scholar, indeed, did not hesitate in at- the success of the endeavour promoted by Columbus. tributing to Albertus Magnus and above all to the Fran- That’s why we could compare the Franciscan philoso- ciscan Francis Bacon the first intuition on the possibil- pher to Janus Bifrons, who on one side observed with ity «to reach directly India from the West». According Rubruck and Pian del Carpine the Asia of the XIII cen- to the German Anthropologist, Bacon who was a dis- tury, and on the other side imagined the mobilization ciple of the Arabs for the study of tools and methods which triggers modernity69. In order to confirm his the- Continuity in the geographical knowledge for empirical observation, became the founder of ex- sis, he illustrated a synopsis to prove that the quotation perimental science and relied on the huge knowledge of a passage by Cardinal d’Ailly, included by Columbus of the «brothers William of Rubrouck and Giovanni dal in a letter he wrote to the Spanish monarchs, was iden- Pian del Carpine»65. tical to a passage of the Opus majus by Bacon70. Ranise grasped the effectiveness of this philological operation The Oxonian philosopher joined the Franciscan Or- carried out by Humboldt who was glad to report on the der pushed by the exceptional discovery that, during conclusions of the outstanding scholar: «That is what the Middle Ages, in the monasteries there were real Humboldt says, corroborating his statement by com- agencies for the transmission of knowledge66. Indeed, paring the three manuscripts he refers to»71. quoting Humboldt, Ranise highlighted that «Bacon himself, talking about the power of knowledge and lan- guages noted that a strong desire to learn and to know Continuity in the geographical know- had been emerging for fourty years in suburbs and ledge monasteries together with the general ignorance of the people»67. With reference to the specific issue of the Ba- The continuity between Eurasia and America traced by conian influence on the Genoese navigator, Marcellino Marcellino Ranise da Civezza is clearly based on the the- ory of geographical information almost trying to iden- tify missions with expeditions, travels and explorations. 63 Roberto Almagià, Monumenta cartographica vaticana I, Planisferi carte In some ways, Ranise secularized the frontiers of the nautiche e affini dal secolo XIV al XVII (Citta del Vaticano 1944), pp. 27–29. Earth, a symbolic element to indicate the missionary The title Mappamondo Borgia cames from the fact that it has been bought in Portugal by Cardinal Stefano Borgia in 1794.

64 Piero Falchetta, The Fra Mauro World Map (Turnhout, Brepols, 2006). 68 Storia universale delle missioni francescane VI, 85;

65 Storia universale delle missioni francescane VI, pp. 84–85 (Examen cri- 69 Andreas Daum highlights that Humboldt’s thought could be interpret- tique de l’histoire, de la géographie du nouveau continent et de progrès de ed as a history of the space and thus a history of modern mobilization. l’astronomie nautique aux quinzième e seizième siècle I (Paris, Librairie De «Alexander von Humboldt, Natur als “Kosmos” und die Suche nach Ein- Gide, 1836), p. 59). heit. Zur Geschichte von Wissen und seiner Wirkung als Raumgeschichte», in Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte (Weiheim) 23 (2000), pp. 243–268. 66 Indeed, Davide Bigalli explains, the participation of Bacon to the Fran- ciscan Order has to be interpreted in light of a difficult mediation between 70 «J’ai d’ailleurs remarqué, en comparant differens (!) textes, que la the canons imposed of the revealed wisdom and the needs of the modern passage dont l’amiral a inséré la traduction dans la lettre aux monarques, potestas. This is the typical scenario of the transition periods that need the a été emprunté par Alliacus [Pierre d’Ailly] presque littéralement à l’Opus elaboration of new forms of organization and dissemination of knowledge. majus de Roger Bacon. Il est vrai que le cardinal dit à la fin de l’Imago mu- According to Bigalli «The Franciscan Order has to be seen in the framework ndi : scriptura ex pluribus auctoribus recollecta anno MCCCX ; mais, au milieu of this path of wisdom that must be embodied by the potestas, the hu- de tant de noms d’auteurs calassiques et de cosmographes arabes, il ne man relations which must become strength, the capacity of intervention cite jamais le nom célèbre de Roger Bacon. Voici la collation des trois pas- of man in the divine project, and the participation of Bacon to all this». sages ; celui qui est extrait de la lettre de Colomb offre une transposition Espansione del francescanesimo tra occidente e oriente nel secolo XIII. Atti del de quelques phrases d’Alliacus». Examen critique de l’histoire, de la géogra- VI convegno internazionale Assisi, 12–14 ottobre 1978 (Assisi 1979), p. 302 phie du nouveau continent et de progrès de l’astronomie nautique aux quin- (round table). zième e seizième siècle I, pp. 63–65: 65–69.

67 Storia universale delle missioni francescane VI, 84. 71 Storia universale delle missioni francescane VI, p. 85.

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goal, the anxiety for the globalization of faith, which is when he pointed out the shift from a strictly religious the heritage of the ideology of the crusade. mission to a mission which was an expansion of time, he had to rely on Bartolomeo da Pisa, author of De Co- For example, he praised the qualities as geographer formitate75. Marcellino Ranise da Civezza presented a se- of the anonymous author of the manuscript found in ries of profiles of the missionaries working in Asia (from Madrid. He then exalted the qualities as explorers or Giovanni da Pian del Carpine to Rubruck) using the list ante litteram anthropologists of John of Montecorvino, of the places of the Asian mission provided by Bartolo- Andrew of Perugia, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and meo da Pisa in his work, proposing the compendium, all the other travelers and missionaries in Cathay72. In the summary and the results of that adventure76. In this the conclusions of the chapter about the Madrid man- way, he considered the De Coformitate by Pisano the uscript and the Bacon of Humboldt, Ranise applaud- junction among the agents of the mission, the mission- ed a work by Deker on the because it aries and the spaces of their apostolic mission. «would clarify the religious and social usefulness of the missions […] the services to sciences and letters»73. If he called for Bacon and Humboldt to illustrate the shift from Asia to America, he relied on Pisano to intro- Continuity in the geographical knowledge In the work by Civezza it is easy to understand his duce another fundamental link to the idea of mission: conviction that globalization was granted by science the shift from ire ad infideles to loca, from the mission- more than by the anxiety for the mission. The Francis- aries to the spaces77! With Bacon, he annotated the im- can historian showed his full solidarity with Humboldt portant document of the geographer friar on the space because he considered Bacon as a transmitter of geo- of the Asian mission, whereas to annotate the list of the graphical notions as it was suitable for a pioneer of the missionaries in Asia he introduced the loca of Pisano. modern empirical science. To conclude, Marcellino Ranise da Civezza consid- In fact, Civezza quotes l’Examen critique of Hum- ered Bacon as a cultural mediator, Janus Bifrons, be- boldt instead of his source, the Opus majus, written by tween the Asian space and the transoceanic space; his confrere, the Franciscan Roger Bacon whereas he considered Pisano as a cultural mediator between ire ad infedes of the missionaries (linear space) Ces mêmes aperçus sur la possibilité de se rendre and the mission as the latitude space. Ranise seemed directement aux Indes par la voie de l’ouest, sur to identify Bartolomeo da Pisa as the initiator of a liter- les partes de la terre qui sont bitables, et le rapport ary genre that, if not belonging to the criteria of the sta- entre les surfaces des continens (!) et des mers se tistics dear to the lovers of the missions contemporary retrouvent chez Roger Bacon, homme prodigieux to the Franciscan historians, it seemed to fully comply par la variété de ses connaissances, la liberté de with the geographical model, typical of the modern sta- son esprit et la tendance de ses travaux vers la ré- tus locali. Actually, Bartolomeo da Pisa was the first of- forme ses études physique74. ficial historian of the Minors engaged in writing lists of loca in order to classify the minor sanctity according to If Civezza involved Humboldt and, thus, Bacon to trace a geographical criterion. Pisano took from the tradition- the continuity between the Middle Ages and the Re- al cataloga sanctorum the habit of associating the name naissance, as a channel of simple empirical information of the Saint and his biographical data with his burial- that the explorers of Asia offered to those of America, place78.

72 «This is the narration of the Franciscan traveler, or missioner, or ge- 75 Storia universale delle missioni francescane VI, 17 ographer of the first half of the XIV century that offers scholars of geog- raphy and history a good chance to understand how much we owe to the 76 «Finally, concluding the information about our old missions in Asia, I missionaries and the travelers of the last centuries». Storia universale delle would like to notice that Bartolomeo da Pisa in his book wrote about the missioni francescane VI, p. 140. main stations fonde by the Franciscans». Storia universale delle missioni francescane VI, pp. 17–18. 73 Les missions catholiques introductif a l’histoire des missionnaires belges par P. de Decker, ancien ministre, membre de L’Académie de Belgique 77 Indeed, Civezza, after concluding a long quotation of Pisano, adds: (Bruxelles 1879). «Also in the trip of our blessed Odoric of there are news of some places where the Order settled in the far East. Mandelville reports of three 74 «Ces mêmes aperçus sur la possibilité de se rendre directement aux In- places […]». Storia universale delle missioni francescane VI, p. 18. des par la voie de l’ouest, sur les partes de la terre qui sont bitables, et le rapport entre les surfaces des continens (!) et des mers se retrouvent chez 78 Brother Elemosina da Gualdo would be the first to put the burial place Roger Bacon, homme prodigieux par la variété de ses connaissances, la li- of the martyrs next to their names, proposing in this way a sort of geogra- berté de son esprit et la tendance de ses travaux vers la réforme ses études phy of sanctity, a topography of martyrdom. Roberto Paciocco, Da France- physique». Examen critique de l’histoire, de la géographie du nouveau conti- sco ai “Catalogi sanctorum” (Assisi, Porziuncola, 1990), p. 105. In relation to nent I, p. 58. the research on the text by Elemosina still under an in-depth analysis it is

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From the mission to the space soaked with the blood of the martyrs, marked by the actions of the confessors and constellated by stigmata The novelty of Bartolomeo da Pisa is not just the intro- like those of Francis’ body in conformitas with the Cross. duction of the concept of space in the geographical It is a space fecundated by testimony, pregnant of the field, but the fact that he attributed to the loca – that future81. Unlike the chroniclers of the XIII century who is to say to the space – the theological meaning of con- used the concept of conformitas just to look at the past formitas79. In his work about the conformitas of Fran- and pay a nostalgic tribute to Francis as the perfect imi- cis with Christ and of the results of that conformitas, tator of Christ and inimitable by the friars, Pisano urged he included some lists of places considering the geo- to expand space82! With space categories he translated graphical element as a real outcome of conformitas. In the concept of progress elaborated by Bonavantura da

From the mission the to space this perspective, by sending his brothers to the world, Bagnoregio from whom he also took the formal struc- Francis imitated Christ. The fruit of this imitation would ture of his work: the tree and its fruits83! create an expansion space corresponding to the mis- sion. Therefore, space as real translation of conformi- tas, would take on a utopian martyrial meaning, that is 81 «Quare volens Christus Salvator suam vitam et passionem mundo de- to say the profile of the escathological ideal belonging clarare et renovare Franciscum cum suo direxit ordine; qui crucis Christi, id to the conquest of the frontiers of the Earth, typical of est vitae ipsius, assumpto vexillo, in mundum progredientes, vitam pro ob- the spiritual literature that Pisano absorbed and trans- servantia assumpsisse evangelicam, prout paefata ostendunt, ipsamque formed. One should not forget, indeed, that Olivi him- primo operibus, demum verbis mundanis patefacere studerunt. Et ut in- self defined the mission as fructus finis, as ultimate and dubia fides beato Francisco principaliori daretur a cunctis, etsi praevia rev- almost exclusive purpose of the order80. According to elatione de assumptione vitae evangelicae a Christo fuerit praemonitus, Olivi, chapter 12 the Rule, the last chapter, deals with post tamen susceptionem vitae evangelicae bulla stigmatum Christi ab the mission. ipso est consignatus, ut post ipsius vitam et regulam ire tutissimum a fi- delibus putaretur et teneretur. Quod, cum crucifixio Salvatoris in fine vi- The space – fruit of Pisano – does not represent just tae suae sit facta, ac vitae Christi perfectio sit in crucifixione compendi- the implementation of a missionary dynamic which ose reserata, beatique Francisci stigmatizatio sit facta iuxta finem vitae has reached its end, like an ended and static horizon, suae et post regulae confirmationem et institutionem, loquendo de regu- the so called status locorum. The status, which is the re- la, de qua ad praesens est sermo, indicium est, beatum Franciscum evan- sult of conformitas, in the work by Pisano is like a space gelium et vitam Christi servasse, et in ipsa regula talia praefata posuisse et descripsisse». Bartolomeo da Pisa, De Conformitate, in Analecta Francisca- na, vol. IV, p. 379. possible to see the following publications: Biblioteca bio-bibliografica del- la Terra Santa II by Girolamo Golubovich, pp. 105–106; Michele Faloci Puli- 82 Among the chronicles before the de Conformitate, we remind the fol- gnani, «Memorabilia de sanctis fratribus minoribus», in Miscellanea Fran- lowing: Speculum (Sabatier) 1318; Fioretti-Actus 1370 1390, de Cognatio- cescana 15 (1914), pp. 65–69;; Isabelle Heullant-Donat, «Livres et écrits de ne di Sarrant 1365; a series of minor compilations whose common source mémoire du premier XIVe siècle: le cas des autographes de fra Elemosina», has not been identified yet such as those calle D’Angers, Antoniana, Avig- in Giuseppe Avarucci, Rosa Maria Borraccini Verducci, Giammario Borri, Li- nonese, first and second of Barcelona, Belgian, Florentine, Isidorian, the so bro, scrittura, documento della civiltà monastica e conventuale nel basso me- called Little, Sarnanese, the Upsala, Venetian. In them, we can find texts dioevo (secoli XIII–XV). Atti del convegno di studio, Fermo, 17–19 settembre of the thirteenth century often re-written to the letter, apparently collect- 1997 (Spoleto, Centro italiano di studi sull’alto Medioevo, 1999), pp. 239– ed just for a personal interest, sign of an unease or a nostalgia for the past 262; Id., «À propos de la mémoire hagiographique franciscaine aux XIII that cannot be replicated. If on the one hand they represent the attempt et XIV siècles. L’auteur retrouvé des Memorialia de sanctis fratribus mino- of a continuity with the tradition of the fourteenth century, on the other ribus», in Religion et societé urbaine au Moyen âge. Etudes offerts à Jean hand they disclose new developments compared to the texts of the thir- Louis Biget, réunies par Patrick Boucheron–Jacques. Chiffoleau (Paris, Publi- teenth century: the ideological and polemic endeavour linked to claim a cations de la Sorbonne, 2000), pp. 511–529. betrayed ideal; essentialism, crystallization of models evoking a past re- moved from its historical context and far from the present. It is in the Cog- 79 Among the last biographical synthesis it is possible to see that by natione that conformitas is put into the foreground. The reference to Christ Bruno W. Häuptli, «Bartholomaeus de Rinonico», in Bio-Bibliogr. Kirchen- acquires the figure of topos, the prototype exccessively formalized that be- lexikon 26 (2006), pp. 125–127. The publication of the Liber de Conformitate trays the awareness of the impossibility to go back to the experience of Vitae Beati Francisci ad Vitam Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, is available in Ana- Francis. Enrico Menestò, «Dagli “Acta” al “de Conformitate”: la compilazio- lacta Franciscana, vol. 4–5 (Quaracchi 1906–1912). ne come segno della coscienza del francescanesimo trecentesco», in I Fran- cescani nel trecento. Atti del XIV convegno internazionale. Assisi, 16–17–18 80 «Primum est superabundans et supererogativus fructus et finis ad ottobre 1986 (Assisi, Università di Perugia Centro studi francescani, 1988), quam decet istum ordinem erigi prae cunctis ordinibus ecclesiae Dei. Et hic pp. 43–68. est non solum fideles sed etiam universitatem infidelium trahere ad Chris- tum, et pro hac re omni martyrio et peregrinationi apud illos se offerre et 83 Pisano’s work follows the footprints of Bonaventura not just because opponere». «Expositio Petri Johannis Olivi super Regulam Fratrum Mino- for the general principle of his work he used the image of the tree, but rum», in David Flood, Peter Olivi’s Rule Commentary (Wiesbaden 1972), c. also because he shared with the seraphic doctor the concept of confor- 12, 1, p. 192. mitas of Francis with Christ. According to Bonaventura, Francis, by choos-

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In summary, compared to his predecessors, Pisano and martyrs the indication of their burial place. It is as- inverted polarities and like Bacon he played the role of tonishing that the inventor of an authentic geography Janus Bifrons. He did not look at the past anymore, free of the minor saints is the most telling witness among from nostalgia, to relaunch the Order bringing it to the the chroniclers not only of the mission in Cathay, but modernity of the Joachimite eschatology dear to the also of the heroic virtues of John of Montecorvino, spirituals84. By no coincidence, the following observant whom he considers a saint, even if he didn’t make any movement drew stimulous from the De conformitate for miracles and he didn’t die as a martyr. Friar Elemosina its own development, as it also happened for the Capu- in his chronicle included the history of the Order within chin reform of the XVI century85. On the contrary, for the the universal history, to establish a parallel between the Lutheran reform, the De conformitate became the sym- origin of Medieval Christianity born at the end of the bol of a secularizing effort if not deconsecrating! For Roman Empire, and the beginning of the Minor Order Luther follwers, there could not be a real relationship which started a new Christian era. He compared Oro- between man and God; this is the reason for the sep- sius – the promoter of the first Medieval civilization – aration in the anthropological and topographic fields to Francis, promoter of the new missionary momentum with the fronts that oppose on the Danube limes to pro- which arrived to its completion with the announcement pose again the old split between Romans and Germans of faith until the furthest frontiers of the East. Elemosina evoked by Braudel. illustrated the martyrial outcome of the missionary ad- venture in Asia while the spirituals left to the Holy Land Pisano received the primordial impulse to merge thanks to the political and economic support of the An- space and martyrdom, the incentive to conceive the gevin monarchs. The memory of the martyrdom in Ca- idea of space as conformitas thanks to the chronicle by thay was for Elemosina the symbolic and memorialis- friar Elemosina, the first to introduce in a list of saints tic backbone of the mission in the Holy Land, the other East86.

ing Christ through the stigmatas becomes the symbol of prophecy. He can

U-topia, soul the of Humboldtian genealogy geographical of knowledge give a spiritual interpretation of the holy writs, renewing the human and U-topia, soul of the Humboldtian church reality. In this concept of prophecy and through the evangelic life of the Saint who imitated the Cross, there is the clear expression of the genealogy of geographical know- concept of the progress of history that Bonaventura took from Joachim of ledge Fiore, contrasting it to the Augustinian vision of history. In summary, Bo- navantura prepares the reflection of the fourteenth century adopting the The political and economic contribution given by San- concept of historical progress of Joachim of Fiore: the rising of the anti- cia to the conquerors of the new eastern spaces did not Christ is not marked by degradation and ruin, on the contrary it is a time imply the idea of renouncing to the ideal of martyrdom. of struggle and martyrdom; a sort of preparation for the new world. Deg- On the contrary, Sancia offered her power for the set- radation is only apparent, temporary and functional to the future happi- tlement of the spirituals in the holy places and wrote ness. In particular, in his Collationes in Exaёmeron Bonaventura proposes to Perpignan who wanted to die as a martyr to defend an interpretation of misfortune/tribulations not as degradation according the Franciscan ideal87. It was rather the papacy of John to the Augustinian interpretation but as a chance to go towards a future of XXII who condemned the spirituals and was reticent to peace. Bonavantura da Bagnoregio, «Collationes in Exaёmeron», in Opera find a successor of Montecorvino, to show a certain de- omnia, vol. V (Quaracchi, S. Bonavantura, 1891), cap. XVI § 30, p. 408; cap. tachment in relation to the canonizations of martyrs XVII § 28, p. 414. These are the concepts that the seraphic doctor evokes proposed by the Minor Order. On the contrary, Paolino also in his Legenda Major, where he better illustrates the identification of da Venezia, author of the Mappa Mundi (1320–1330), al- Francis with the angel of the sixth seal which inaugurates the new era.

84 On the frequency and modalities with which Pisano used the spiritu- al texts and the texts by Joachim of Fiore, one can find some indications in the introduction to his works: Analecta Franciscana, vol. IV, pp. XVIII–XIX. 86 On the concept of history and especially of periodization adopted by brother Elemosina, see the interesting remarks by Heullant-Donat, «Livres 85 Janusz Kaźmierczak, «L’ideale francescano nelle ordinazioni di Alba- écrits de mémoire du premier XIV siècle: le cas des autographes de fra El- cina e nelle costituzioni del 1536», in Vincenzo Criscuolo (dir.), Ludovico da emosina», pp. 239–263: 245–246; Tanase, Jusqu’aux limites du monde, pp. Fossombrone e l’Ordine dei cappuccini (Roma, Istituto storico dei Cappucci- 598–600. ni, 1994), pp. 307–322. The success of Pisano does not fear any compari- sons with other works of the Franciscan historiography as eloquently testi- 87 To compare the text of the letter see Luke Wadding, Annales Mino- fied by the huge number of codes disseminated throughout Europe (more rum an 1331, vol. VIII (Quaracci 1932), p. 141. Isabelle Heullant-Donnat, «En than 150), the three printed editions published in just 80 years (Minano amont de l’observance. Les lettres de Sancia, reine de Naples aux Chapitres 1510 e 1513; Bologna 1590), and several imitations: from Giacomo Oddi généraux et leur transmission dans l’historiographie de XVIe siècle», in da Perugia (1488) to Mariano da Firenze (1523); from Pelberto di Temesvar Fréderic Meyer and Ludovic Viallet (dir.), Identité franciscaine a l’âge des (1504) to Dionigi Pulinari (†1582), curator of an Italian version; from Valen- reformes (Clermont-Ferrand, Presses universitaires Blaise Pascal, 2005), tino Marée (1660) to Pietro Alva y Astorga (1667). pp. 73–79.

HiN XVI, 30 (2015) ISSN: 1617-5239 26 Internationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt-Studien The Franciscans in Cathay: memory of men and places (G. Buffon)

though far from the ideals of the spirituals, had no re- is permeated by Spiritual eschaltology, being Columbus serves in including the martyrs in the lists of saints88. guest at the Rábida, where the iberical spiritual lovers of Joachimites lived91. From the point of view of Bacon Only Trinci and Bernardino da Siena brought back and Bartolomeo da Pisa, of the humanist cartographers eschatology in the heart of the papacy. In 1350, Piet- of the Renaissance supporting global mobilization, the ro da Narbona left Catalonia to Jerusalem stopping in legacy of Francis of Asis–complying with Christ until the Brogliano, Trinci’s homeland. In 1368 he died as martyr martyrdom of the stigmas and for this reason image of in the Holy Land where Christ had died, example and the angel arising from the East–certainly represents the model of life in the Spirit and canon of holyness. In the space. Holy Land, at the beginning of the XIV century potestas and martiria coincided: on the one hand, friars did not It is not just a topographic category, but it is a dynam- reject honours by the pilgrims who considered them as ic concept that, for Bernardino da Siena, Olivi’s disciple, the custodians of the power of the Latin church founded is fulfilled through the expansion of economic, social by the crusaders; on the other hand, they justified their and civil spaces, as a result of the inclusion of new social presence by proposing again the values of Olivi and categories in the field of citizenship. The Franciscans of Clareno. In the place where Christ was born poor and Humanism and the Renaissance, those who accompa- had died naked, only the followers of the poor Francis nied Columbus in the transoceanic sailing, thanks to the with the stigma could live. The conformitas with Christ contribution of Bartolomeo da Pisa with the De confor- was the conditio sine qua non to live in that place where mitate celebrated the space as Francis’ authentical leg- people had to be ready to be martyrs waiting for the acy, the fruit of his conformitas. They also inspired Piero time to be mature and for the people to convert. Even if della Francesca in portraiting the Council of Florence of Minister General Oddone tried to expunge spiritual ele- Eugene IV, the panel of the big fresco on the Legend of ments from the Holy Land (as Chronica XXIV that did not the true cross. The artist superimposed the Council aim- renounce to martyrdom) omitting the reference to the ing at emphasizing the unity of the Church and the vic- Angevin monarchs, the Spirituals from Catalonia and tory of Eraclio (314) against the Persians, which unified

U-topia, soul the of Humboldtian genealogy geographical of knowledge Narbona, the territories of Sancia and Roberto d’Angiò, the East and the West to recapture the of the cross, continued to reach the Holy Land, urging the residents the trophy triumphantly brought to Jerusalem, the lo- and Cola di Rienzo himself to build a new world. In 1414, cus teologicus of the conformitas franciscana. once all the fears of ostracism against spiritual eschatol- ogy had disappeared, the General Minister Antonio da This is then how it is precisely the utopian nature of Pireto introduced in the statutes of the Custodia the es- martyrdom as a privileged condition of entry into the chatological legitimization of the Spirituals. In the Holy celestial space that substantiates that same tension that Land those who were ready to lead the world by exam- animates the genealogy of geographical knowledge, ple of holiness could live, mirroring the evangelical per- which Alexander von Humboldt rebuilds with the princi- fection, always reminding the model of the Redeemer, pal intent of demonstrating the continuity between the who is totius vitae spiritualis exemplar89. medieval perception of space and modern cartographic technique. In fact, while the memory of martyrdom– as It is not surprising that modern cartography flour- a consequence of the specialization of knowledge typi- ished in the territories where Spirituals settled, with cal of the modern era–remains the prerogative of con- maps that allowed to expand geographical knowledge fessional contexts in form of devotion for the souls, the and projects aimed at making new discoveries. It is in- idea of space produced by the utopia of martyrdom is deed in the Angevin and Aragonese milieu, close to the instead seized by cartography and its technicians. This spiritual Franciscan order, that the Catalan atlas and the took place in a period that was enlivened by the aspi- Libro del conoscimento, source for the historians of the ration to cross borders to reach new worlds, to acquire Canaries, Berthier and Le Verier90, were produced. After new knowledge and, ultimately, to encounter beings all, the book of the prophecies of Cristopher Columbus never before known. Modern cartography, therefore, reborn from the ashes of the topography of martyr- dom, is emerging as its flagship product. This genealog- 88 On Paulinus Venetus, see: Isabelle Heullant-Donat, «Paolino da Ve- ical relationship should not be ignored. To do so would nezia et les prologues de ses chorioniques universelles», in Mélanges de mean consigning to oblivion that fecundity is the pro- l’École française de Rome. Moyen Age 105/1 (Roma, École française de found meaning of its own vitality, and thereby closing Rome, 1993), pp. 381–342 : 430. off the pathway for anyone who may wish to try their hand not in the drafting of a history of discoveries, but 89 Kaspar Elm, «La custodia di Terra santa. Franziskanisches Ordensle- in the adventure of conquering new horizons. ben in der tradition der lateinischen Kirche Palästinas», in I francescani nel Trecento. Atti del XIV convegno internazionale: Assisi, 16–17–18 ottobre 1986 (Perugia 1988), pp. 127–166: 161–164. 91 Alain Milhou, Colombe et le messianisme hispanique (Montpellier, 90 Tanase, Jusqu’aux limites du monde, pp. 643–647. Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée, 2007).

HiN XVI, 30 (2015) ISSN: 1617-5239 27 Internationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt-Studien The Franciscans in Cathay: memory of men and places (G. Buffon)

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Buffon, Giuseppe (2015): The Franciscans in Cathay: memory of men and places. A Contribution for the How cite to genealogy of geographical knowledge of Alexan- der von Humboldt. In: HiN - Humboldt im Netz. In- ternationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt-Studien (Pots- dam - Berlin) XVI, 30, S. 13-29. Online verfügbar unter

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HiN XVI, 30 (2015) ISSN: 1617-5239 28 Internationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt-Studien